Cornell head coach Bill Courtney is in his third season at Cornell (25-38, .397; 13-15 Ivy, .464) ... Courtney became the fifth Robert E. Gallagher '44 Coach of Men's Basketball at Cornell on April 23, 2010.

STORY LINES: The road-weary Cornell men's basketball team returns home with a two-game win streak in tow and will attempt to extend it to three when the Big Red plays host to defending America East regular season champion Stony Brook on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena. Cornell will be looking to even its record on the season and get back to its winning ways at home after losing consecutive narrow contests to St. Bonaventure and Saint Peter's.

The Big Red won the Upper Division of the 2012 Continental Tie Las Vegas Invitational, defeating Presbyterian (89-55) and Longwood (84-78) to take the trophy home. Of course, that came at the end of an 11-day marathon that saw Cornell play in all four continental U.S. time zones in four states for a total of six games spread out over 4,400 miles. The Big Red rebounded after a tough loss to nationally ranked Wisconsin to give Arizona State a scare before its two wins in Sin City.

At 3-4, Cornell has defended as well as any team in the Ivy League, allowing opponents to shoot just 40 percent from the floor overall and 30 percent from 3-point range while blocking 4.1 shots with 7.1 steals per game. Cornell's offense has started to come around, averaging 86.5 points in its last two games, both wins. The Big Red shot .552 (64-of-116) in those two games and 18-of-44 from 3-point range (.409) while putting five players in double figures each game.

The defending America East regular season champion Sea Wolves are off to an impressive 4-2 start for head coach Steve Pikiell. Featuring balanced scoring and a stingy defense, similar to Cornell, Stony Brook is 2-1 on the road so far this year. Picked second in the America East in the preseason poll, senior Tommy Brenton was a preseason first-team all-league pick. The 6-5 forward is filling up the stat sheet so far this year, entering the contest averaging 8.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

A WIN OVER STONY BROOK WOULD:

• even the Big Red's record at 4-4 on the season and 2-2 at Newman Arena.

• give Cornell its first three-game win streak since defeating Dartmouth, Yale and Brown in February of 2012.

• be the 1,200th in program history (1,199-1,312 in 114 seasons).

ABOUT STONY BROOK: Stony Brook brings a 4-2 record into Wednesday's nonconference game with the Big Red. The Sea Wolves has earned wins over Marist, Division III Mount Ida, and Rider and Canisius while dropping games to Sacred Heart and No. 21 Connecticut. The Sea Wolves have limited opponents to 38 percent shooting and 32 percent from 3-point range, dominating its first four opponents by rolling them in the first half. Stony Brook has jumped out to an average lead of 11 points per game by the break. Head coach Steve Pikiell's team has had balanced scoring, with four players between 8.2 and 12.5 points per game, and seven players averaging better than 4.7 points. Tommy Brenton is averaging 8.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game, while Dave Coley (12.5 pp.g), Anthony Jackson (12.3 ppg.) and Jameel Warney (10.7 ppg.) are in double figures.

THE CORNELL-STONY BROOK SERIES: Cornell leads 4-2 in a series that began during the 1999-2000 season. The Big Red is 3-0 all-time in Ithaca, but had its three-game win streak in the series snapped last season in a 68-59 overtime defeat on the road.

CORNELL VS. THE AMERICA EAST: Cornell is 19-21 all-time against current members of the America East. The Big Red is 4-2 against Stony Brook and has also faced Albany (2-3), Binghamton (5-2), Boston University (2-1), Hartford (0-3), Maine (0-1), New Hampshire (1-3) and Vermont (5-6). Cornell has never played UMBC.

THE STREAKS

• Cornell is 96-59 (.619) in the last five seasons.

• The Big Red is 51-19 (.729) in its last 70 Ivy League contests over the last six years.

• Cornell is 57-14 (.802) over its last 71 home games, including 52-13 (.800) in the last six years.

• In non-conference games, the Big Red is 45-40 (.529) over the last five seasons.

TEAM NOTES:

• Over its last two games, Cornell is averaging 86.5 points on .552 shooting (64-of-116) from the field and .409 from 3-point range (18-of-44). Prior to that, the Big Red was averaging 57.6 points on .355 shooting overall and .298 from 3-point range in its first five games.

• The Big Red has posted at least 20 turnovers in two of its last three games. It had a season-low seven in the middle contest.

• After being outrebounded in three of its first four games, the Big Red has held a rebounding edge in three straight (average of +7.0 per game).

• In its last three games, Cornell has shot .783 (36-of-46) from the

• Cornell's 34-point margin of victory in the 89-55 victory over Presbyterian was the largest in a game under head coach Bill Courtney and the largest by a Big Red team since topping Harvard 86-50 on Jan. 30, 2010.

• The Big Red's .569 field goal percentage in the win over Presbyterian is the second-highest under head coach Bill Courtney, behind only a torrid .638 against Wofford (30-of-47) on Dec. 30, 2010.

• Cornell's bench has outscored the opposing bench in each of the team's seven games this year.

• Opponents have been under 30 percent shooting from 3-point range in five of Cornell's seven games this season.

• Cornell has had five players in double figures in two straight contests.

• Eight different players have reached double figures in scoring at least once in the team's first seven games.

• Cornell hasn't allowed a non-conference team to shoot 50 percent in 20 straight games, including contests against eventual postseason teams American (CIT), Lehigh (NCAA), Stony Brook (NIT) and Bucknell (NIT), as well as nationally ranked Illinois and Wisconsin and BCS schools Mayland, Penn State and Arizona State. The last non-Ivy to shoot 50 percent or better was St. Bonaventure in the 2011-12 opener.

• Over the last two seasons, Big Red non-conference opponents have hit just 112 3-pointers in 21 games (5.3 per game) on .278 shooting (112-of-403). Only three times in 21 games has a team shot better than 33 percent from beyond the arc. That trend continued so far this season, as Cornell opponents have made just 40 3-pointers (5.7 per game) on .299 shooting (40-of-134).

• Cornell's 3-point season totals in the last five years represent the top five single-season marks in school history. The Big Red's 217 3-pointers a year ago ranks fifth on the chart. Prior to 2007-08, when the run began, Cornell had made more than 200 treys in a season just once.

• The Big Red has reached double figures in victories in nine consecutive years, the most since hitting that mark 10 consecutive times from 1981-82 through 1990-91. The school record is 12 straight years beginning in 1944-45 and stretching through the 1955-56 season.

• In the last six games, sophomore Devin Cherry has posted 72 points (12.0 ppg.) after scoring a total of 40 points in the 2011-12 campaign, spanning 22 games played.

• Cherry has posted five double figure scoring efforts in his last six games, all off the bench. He entered the year with just one double figure game.

• With his 9-of-12 shooting effort against Longwood, senior Eitan Chemerinski jumped into first place on the school's career field goal percentage list. He surpassed the 100 field goals needed to join the list and popped on at No. 1 with his .614, ahead of all-time leader John McCord (.583).

• In his last three games, freshman Nolan Cressler has averaged 10.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists while hitting 7-of-14 3-pointers. In his two starts (Cornell 2-0), he is averaging 13.0 ppg., 4.5 rpg., 2.5 apg. in just 22.5 minutes.

• Cressler has made 15 3-pointers in seven games this season. He has hit multiple 3-pointers in five contests (15-of-25, .600) and has been shut out in two others (0-for-3, .000).

• Sophomore Shonn Miller has three or more steals in four games this year. He has blocked two or more shots in three contests.

• Over his last three games, Miller is averaging 12.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 62 percent from the field (13-of-21), 60 percent from 3-point range (3-of-5) and 89 percent from the free-throw line (8-of-9).

• Senior Johnathan Gray has connected on 54 career 3-pointers and needs just five more to move into the top 20 all-time at Cornell.

• After averaging 3.7 points in a four-game span, senior Errick Peck exploded for a double-double against Longwood with 14 points and 10 rebounds. It was Peck's first career double-double.

NEXT UP: The Big Red will play its final game before final exams when it plays host to Colgate on Saturday, Dec. 1 at Newman Arena. Following that game, Cornell will have a 16-day break for exams before beginning a five-game road swing that begins with a contest at Vanderbilt on Monday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. CT.